Let Sons of Santos surprise you

Sons of Santos is brothers Nick (left) and Luis Soberon. Photo provided by the artist

I am not often moved to tears by Britney Spears material. But one night, after a reader tip sent me to see Luis Soberon at the Logon Cafe, I got a little misty-eyed by an emotional jazz folk cover of “Toxic” that will do the same to you.

Soberon and his brother, Nick, are Beaumont natives living in Austin. As the duo Sons of Santos, they specialize in sweet, nuanced sounds that range from quiet folk to angry, raging blues. When I caught Luis, he was playing solo with some help from a member of Hello Chief. The entire room was captivated by covers ranging from Bon Iver to Justin Timberlake to Tom Waits.

With great attention to every little detail in the music he played, Soberon held us completely captive. When the show ended before I was done taking it all in, I offered $20 to hear Soberon play just one more song. This weekend, Luis (on guitar, mandolin and vocals) will play three shows with Nick (cello, glockenspiel, back-up vocals): tonight at the Logon, a late show Friday at King’s and a rowdier Saturday night show opening for Lafayette circus rock band Vagabond Swing.

I chatted with Nick and Luis by Facebook message as they were in the studio working on their new EP:

Q Give me a brief history of Sons of Santos.Luis: Well, the story of Sons of Santos really starts with me and Nick growing up listening to our father play and compose music on the piano and Spanish classical guitar, so I guess the history really starts before Nick was even born.

Santos Soberon taught us our first chords, bought us our first instruments and introduced us to the world of making music. Nick eventually picked up the cello, and after about three years of playing together, we decided to call it something. Someone suggested that we call it Sons of Santos, and it’s kind of perfect for us.

Q How does the music you play now relate to the music your father raised you on?Luis: My earliest memory is me and my sister dancing to a song my father played song called “Asturias Leyenda,” which has some big percussive moments. The percussive style in Spanish and Flamenco guitar-playing has inspired me to develop my own technique, which means more finger-style and less straight strumming.

Nick: Pop also played a lot of Bossa Nova and jazz guitar, which are characterized by intricate chord progressions, lots of key changes and improvisation. Although these guitar styles have little to do with my style of cello playing, they have had a huge impact on the way we both compose songs. We both try to keep the songs we play musically interesting.

When we consider which covers to play, we only try to play songs that we can make our own. With something like “Toxic,” there are a lot of interesting chromatic chord progressions. We saw potential in that one after a quick jam on that main riff.

That’s also why you don’t hear us covering every pop song in the top 100. Most of them just aren’t very interesting to us.

Q But you found a real sweet spot with some of them. What’s the Justin Timberlake song I saw you cover at the Logon? That’s the first time a Britney Spears or Justin Timberlake song has had any sort of emotional effect on me. I didn’t see it coming.Luis: The Justin Timberlake song is called “Cry Me a River.” And thanks — that’s what we’re shooting for. If you listen to the lyrics of that song, it’s a total blues song. We tried to bring that aspect out musically as well as lyrically.

Q Tell me about the other material — both original and covers — that we might see you guys play live when you come to Beaumont.Nick: So as we’re doing this interview, Luis and I are actually in the studio recording an upcoming EP. You can definitely expect to hear those songs when we come down, as well as some new material we’ve been working on.

Q What kind of sound does the new EP have so far?Nick: As far as genre is concerned, you can expect something along the lines of alternative Americana, but given that Luis is recording a scratch track and we’re about to record bass, we’ve got a ways to go before we can say much else.